2 years ago, my family and I made the difficult decision to put our horse of 12 years down.

Joshy was my first 'rescue', purchased cheap from a horse hoarder who got busted a week later. We took a chance, hoping there was a relatively sane horse under the mud encrusted coat. We had no idea what a wonderful horse we'd end up with. When we showed him, he'd often beat horses that cost thousands of dollars. A judge once offered to buy him from us, she loved his kind eye and the fact that he totally saved my butt over a jump.

He taught me to look beyond an animal's looks, be patient and kind, and you will be rewarded. I miss him dearly, and even more so lately. Three of my friends have had to put their horses down this month, all of them were pasture buddies with Josh at one time.

I was often guilty of 'jumping ahead' of him, and he was a saint for always waiting until when he knew he was supposed to take off. It could've been rather unpleasant, I could've flown right over his head, but instead we just looked a little uncoordinated.